PSY 105 Unit 1 Discussion 2: The Scientific Method Since psychology is a science
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Question
PSY 105
Unit 1 Discussion 2: The Scientific Method
Since psychology is a science that studies the way people think and behave, psychologists use the scientific method to study people’s thoughts and actions.
The scientific method is a formal approach to designing a research study with the goal of better understanding a topic, question, or problem. It involves:
Forming a hypothesis or prediction
Designing a way to test that hypothesis
Collecting the data from that test, or experiment
Analyzing that data and drawing conclusions
In your initial post, think of a problem that you solved and describe the steps you took to solve it. Compare the steps of the scientific method to the steps that you used.
Were any of the steps the same?
Did you follow the same order?
What was different about your problem-solving approach?
Please answer all of the questions, if you can not answer all of the questions do not reply.
Explanation / Answer
I solved a problem of abusive adolescents in the school I work by assuming that they have low emotional intelligence due to their background i.e. they have uneducated underprivileged parents and health concerns. I could not collect data about these kids but still, I think I am able to make things better by communicating with the kids and the staff of the school. Collecting data is difficult as I work with a society that is too closed and not open to discussion. My work is not scientific but still; my method is working as I am managing my own self nicely i.e. emotionally as I try to be polite but very firm in my approach.
Thus based on the observation of the behavior of the students in the class, their frequent absence due to sickness and interaction with their parents I hypothesized that: The adolescent kids are abusive due to their uneducated background and ill health. Hence my approach was scientific until this point. However, beyond this, I could not experiment and collect data. Hence I could not adopt a scientific approach. Simply based on my conjecture I communicated with the kids and the staff and the things have improved a bit. Collecting data is at times is very difficult in uneducated and closed society so based on observation after communicating I think one can adopt a course of action.
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